Take A Walk

Take students to an interesting part of your area and allow them to explore. They should take pictures of their observations and develop questions. Feel comfortable with them wandering around, although it may seem aimless the walking and watching will generate ideas. Upon completion of your walk debrief with your students, allow them to share photos and their questions. Create a class blog and allow students to post pictures and questions. Students should feel free to make comments and share ideas.

How does this idea help to spark student curiosity?

It starts them on the path of observing their environment and generating questions, and that will create curiosity.

What grade level is this idea most appropriate for?

All of the above

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James: I do this all the time. i call it a wander and wonder. I ask students to walk in silence and fairly slowly and just notice. I ask them to have three things they noticed that they can share out at the end of our walk. I did it last year at the beginning of all my classes and we had fabulous talks about slowing down and not being distracted. And kids asked to do it again during the year-especially when they were stressed out by school.

Hello Lisa, thanks for sharing your insights. Did you turn these wanders and conversations into projects? This initial walk was in preparation for students to turn wanders & curiosities into project based learning.

I'm an art and architecture teacher so the whole class is project based. In studio classes this serves as a beginning conversation about looking closely which you must do in order to draw. In architecture we study the building all semester and then identify something that doesn't work and redesign it: classrooms, library, courtyards and lunchrooms for a start!